Are you just new to presentations and public speaking? The moment you found out that you were going to present in front of a live audience, what did you think? You most probably thought about what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it. To make things easier for you, just follow these 4 simple and doable principles of communication:

1. Add value – Give your audience something new, something they still haven’t heard before, something they don’t know. You can do a little research and ask your target audience what is it they would like to learn about. Match your topic to their level of knowledge.

2. Be relevant – Your topic should resonate with your audience’s background and level of skills so it can be more meaningful for them.

3. Be accurate – Know your subject well but only give important details that your audience will find useful. Less is more.

4. Be clear and organized – You can do this by using stories, analogies, graphics and other visual aides.

These five types of audiences originally came from two types of learners: the prisoners and the vacationers. But since learning is also related to presentations and public speaking, then these five came to be. See which type of audience you usually have. It in turn reflects the kind of speaker you are:

Prisoners are level one. They came to your talk because they were forced to by their bosses or they didn’t have any choice.

The second kind of learner is the vacationer. They willingly came to listen to you because they see it as a time off from work.

At level three, people are there because they know the results that you bring to an organization. Your audience is interested in hearing what you have to say.

Level four is when you start to experience real influence. The audience is not only interested in what you have to say but they like and trust you too.

Level five is the ultimate of professional or public speaking. At this level, you are seen as an expert and may even hold a little celebrity status.

So which kind of speaker or presenter are you and at what level does your audience usually belong?

A lot of stuff have already been written about how to eradicate death by PowerPoint but people still seem to keep following what everybody else is doing. Only a few ones have enough foresight to ask if there is a much better way of doing a PowerPoint presentation.

On this post, I’d like to remind you these 3 simple yet very useful tips you ought to follow if you are about to present in front of a live audience and is thinking of using PowerPoint as a tool.

Tip 1: Don’t start in PowerPoint. Your PowerPoint slides ought to be used as a tool to help you clarify your points during your presentation. It shouldn’t be the main event.

Tip 2: Don’t use bullet points. They’re boring and they don’t help with memory recall at all. Instead, focus on telling a good story.

Tip 3: Don’t put multiple ideas on one slide. There should only be one idea per slide. People will remember better that way.

We all know that practice makes perfect. But here are 7 reasons to give you a better and clearer understanding of why it is crucial and essential for speakers to practice, practice and keep practicing.

Look like you didn’t need practice – Yup, the more you practice your presentation or speech, the more flawless and relaxed you’ll look on stage. And when you look very natural on stage, the more your audience will focus on what you have to say than how you act or sound like in front of them.

Remember more of what you wanted to say – By practicing your speech, the less likely your mind will go blank on stage.

Roll with the punches – Experiencing technical difficulties won’t be much of a problem if you know your speech by heart.

Work out your stumbles ahead of time – If there are phrases, sentences or sentiments that you are not confident in sharing to your audience, you will get better at it in time or you can change it in advance and avoid acting awkward about it in front of your audience.

Try a new speaking skill with lower risk – If you’re going to talk about a topic that is entirely new to you, with practice, you will minimize mistakes and even sound like you’re already an expert at it.

Build a stronger structure for your speech or presentation – By practicing your speech, you have more time to plan a more engaging speech from start to finish.

Hit those grace notes – Through practice, you can take your speech from good to great.

How you handle the Q and A portion of your presentation will determine the success of your entire presentation so make sure you prepare well and follow these four tips.

1. Don’t leave Q & A for the end.

It’s better to pose questions all throughout your presentation unless you are addressing thousands of people. Count a few seconds after asking your question then move on.

2. Prepare with your own questions.

Just in case no one answers your questions, then be ready to give your own answer.

3. Practice making people feel smart.

Sometimes people ask hostile questions because more often than not, they don’t understand. So help them understand and make them feel smart by acknowledging their question and saying that maybe they are right it’s just that you haven’t read any research to support their claim but what you do know according to your studies is this, this and this.

4. Don’t shame yourself!

Once you have already answered a hostile question for instance, move on to the next topic or the next person. Don’t ever ask the same person “have I satisfied your curiosity?” Because doing that will just bring back the power to them.

Buttons are typically used on websites. You click them and they bring you to another page where you can either subscribe, buy a product, gather more information, etc. But buttons aren’t only used on websites. You can use them when you make your presentations too. And this is where PowerPoint helps. PowerPoint can help you create buttons for your slides or website.